Foundations of Inclusive and Special Education Week 1 (3 hours)

I. UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY

OVERVIEW

The definition of diversity is as varied as the many diverse characteristics of people. For
the purpose of this curriculum, we will use the definition from Guion (1999, p.1): “Diversity is a
mosaic of people who bring a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, styles, perspectives,
values and beliefs as assets to the groups and organizations with which they interact.”
The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding
that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. These can be along the
dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical,
religious beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive
and nurturing environment.

MODULE OBJECTIVES

After successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

• Define diversity and analyze how issues of diversity and equity are addressed in schools
and society.
• Recognize the importance of understanding diversity in learning

COURSE MATERIALS

In general, as applied to schools, the literature on enhancing school staff understanding of

diversity focuses on learning about such matters as
• the multiple forms of human diversity (including within-group diversity) and how such
factors affect student and school interveners’ attitudes, values, expectations, belief
systems, world views, actions, and physical and mental health
• how diversity can negatively affect student-intervener contacts, relationships, and
interactions (e.g., concerns about stereotypes, racism, sexism, gender bias,
ethnocentrism, ageism, etc.; awareness of similarities and differences; power differentials
that result in oppression, marginalization, victimization, blaming the victim)
• appreciating relevant strengths/assets; viewing psychosocial problems, disabilities, and
school interventions in terms of reciprocal determinism and from the perspective of diverse
groups
• prevalent biases in schools
• how diversity concerns can be accounted for appropriately in schools
• the role played by demographics and equity, cultural beliefs, religion, and ethnocentrism
in public education and related political and societal considerations
 An increasingly diverse campus increases the likelihood that students will engage with
others who are from different backgrounds (Chang, 1999). As individuals are exposed to diverse
groups or attend a highly diverse institution they are often exposed to experiences, perspectives,
and opinions different from their own. This intergroup contact and exposure to diverse
perspectives provides important opportunities for learning to occur. Psychological theories of
minority influence indicate that having minority opinions present in groups stimulates cognitive
complexity among majority opinion members (Gruenfeld et al., 1998). Scholars contend that this
“discontinuity” from students’ home environments provides students with a social and intellectual
environment that challenges them in ways that enhances their cognitive and identity development
(Milem et al., 2005). On the contrary, homogenous environments restrict learning opportunities
across social and cultural lines (Hurtado et al., 1994). While the educational benefits of diversity
are extensive, educators need to understand what the benefits associated with diversity are and
how to realize the conditions required in order to achieve these benefits.

EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY

Meaningful engagement with diverse peers and exposure to diversity issues in the
curriculum prepares students for life in an increasingly complex and diverse society.

▪ Brainstorming sessions among diverse groups have been shown to generate ideas that
are of higher quality in feasibility and effectiveness (McLeod et al., 1996).

▪ Group discussions that include viewpoints from diverse students have been shown to
stimulate discussion of multiple perspectives and previously unconsidered alternatives
showing a higher level of critical analysis of decisions and alternatives (Antonio et al.,
2004; Nemeth, 1995, 1985; Schulz-Hardt et al., 2006; Sommers, 2006).

▪ Students who interacted with diverse peers both informally and within the classroom
showed the greatest engagement in active thinking, growth in intellectual engagement and
motivation, and growth in intellectual and academic skills (Gurin, 1999; Gurin et al., 2002).
Meaningful engagement rather than casual and superficial interactions led to greater
benefit from interaction with racially diverse peers (Espenshade and Radford, 2009).

▪ Engagements with diversity fosters students’ cognitive and personal growth including
their cultural knowledge and understanding, leadership abilities, and commitment to
promoting understanding. Students develop more accurate knowledge, students learn to
think more deeply, actively, and critically when they confront their biases and change
erroneous information (Antonio, 2001a, 2001b; Antonio et al., 2004).

▪ Completion of a diversity course requirement reduces students’ level of racial prejudice

(Chang, 2002), and is associated with students’ cognitive development (Bowman, 2010)
and civic behaviors and dispositions (Bowman, 2011).

▪ Individuals who are educated in diverse settings are far more likely to work and live in
diverse environments after they graduate (Hurtado et al., 2003).

DIVERSITY within the academy enriches scholarship and teaching.

▪ Scholars from minority groups have expanded and enriched scholarship and teaching in
many academic disciplines by offering new perspectives and by raising new questions,
challenges, and concerns (Antonio, 2002; Nelson and Pellet, 1997; Turner, 2000)
 ▪ Women and faculty of color are more frequently employing active learning techniques (for
example, class discussion, student-selected topics, among others) or student-centered
pedagogy in the classroom, encouraging student input, including perspectives of women
and minorities in their coursework, and attending workshops designed to help them
incorporate the perspectives of women and racial/ethnic minorities into their courses
(Hurtado et al., 2012; Milem, 2003). Student-centered pedagogy has been shown to
increase student engagement, particularly in STEM introductory courses (Gasiewski et
al., 2012), while extensive lecturing has been found to negatively affect student
engagement and achievement (Astin, 1993)

IN ORDER FOR underrepresented populations to thrive, a sufficient number of diverse students

must be present.
▪ A lack of diversity can lead to tokenism of underrepresented students and being a part of
an underrepresented group on a campus can produce negative social stigma (e.g., Fries-
Britt, 1998; Fries-Britt and Turner, 2001, 2002; Steele, 1992, 1997, 1998; Steele and
Aronson, 1995) and other “minority status” stressors (Prillerman et al., 1989; Smedley et
al., 1993) that adversely affect student achievement.

▪ Underrepresented and marginalized groups benefit educationally from intragroup contact.

For example, students of color benefit from same-race interaction in ways that white
students do not, as students of color create social and academic counterspaces to support
their achievement against an often-hostile campus climate (Solórzano et al., 2000).

▪ It is especially important that no single group of students—especially students of color and

other marginalized populations—be unintentionally burdened as “the diversity” with whom
all others should interact. Increasing the representation of these groups may provide a
context that helps prevent this from occurring (Milem et al., 2005).

▪ Increasing the representation of historically marginalized groups in organizations that are

largely dominated by a single social group is critical for others to overcome status leveling
and stereotyped role induction. Status leveling occurs as individuals make adjustments in
their perception of the token’s (an individual from an underrepresented group) situational
or professional status to be in line with the expected position of the token’s social category
(Kanter, 1977). For example, individuals tend to make their perception of the token woman
in male-dominated organizations or fields fit their preexisting generalizations about women
as numerical rarity provides too few examples to contradict the generalization. In addition,
students of color on a predominantly white campus may often be followed by campus
police and questioned on whether they are legitimate members of the campus community
(Smith et al., 2007). Being mistaken in their professional or student roles forces tokens to
spend much energy correcting others and has a detrimental impact on aspirations and
achievement.

Engaging in Issues Related to Diversity in the Classroom

As classrooms become increasingly diverse, it is critical for educators to create inclusive

learning environments that promote learning outcomes for all students. But how can instructors
create a learning environment that is inclusive of and engages with diversity? In their extensive
review of diversity and education scholarship, Hurtado, Alvarez, Guillermo-Wann, Cuellar, and
Arellano (2012) provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the various dimensions of
diverse learning environments within institutions of higher education. Within the curricular sphere,
Hurtado et al.’s (2012) model emphasizes four key areas that shape the diversity environment in
classrooms: students’ social identities, faculty identity, curricular content, and pedagogy/teaching
methods. In other words, who we teach, who teaches, what is taught, and how it is taught (see
Jackson, 1988; Marchesani and Adams, 1992) all play a critical role in the teaching-learning
process of promoting diversity in college classrooms. The following subsections present the key
areas within the classroom dimension of diverse learning environments in Hurtado et al.’s (2012)
model.

1. STUDENTS’ SOCIAL IDENTITIES

Who students are and their own social group identities, including race/ ethnicity,
socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, and dis/ability, among others shape
students’ experiences within classrooms. Students bring their own multiple social group
identities to the learning environment, to which the broader society has already ascribed
meaning and given status and power (Johnson, 2005; Omi and Winant, 1994; Tatum,
2000). Within classrooms, interactions among students with various social group identities
may easily replicate the normative power relations in society, which privilege certain
groups over others (e.g., Adams et al., 2000; Johnson, 2005; Tatum, 2000). A hostile
learning environment within the classroom for students from historically marginalized
groups is created by not taking notice of and opposing such interactions. Thus, as
instructors, it is essential to know more about students and understand the nature of
student interactions in the classroom in order to create inclusive educational
environments.
2. INSTRUCTOR’S IDENTITY AN INSTRUCTOR’S
Social group identity also plays a role in the diversity dynamics within a classroom. In
addition to faculty members’ multiple social identities, their professional identities have an
important influence on a classroom’s diversity climate. How professors view themselves
and their roles in the college classroom provide insight into the types of pedagogical
practices faculty may engage in (Cohen & Brawer, 1972; Hurtado et al., 2012). While some
faculty members may view their research and teaching as a means to achieve positive
social change, others may pursue faculty positions solely to fulfill their personal quest for
intellectual growth and enlightenment (Reybold, 2003). Additionally, many faculty
members may prioritize research productivity over teaching proficiency (Reybold, 2003),
which may in turn hinder student learning. Given that faculty members play an integral
role in the classroom climate, it is critical for instructors to create inclusive learning
environments in order to help attain equitable learning outcomes for all students and bring
forth the educational benefits of diversity.
3. COURSE CONTENT MAKING THE CURRICULUM
More inclusive by including different racial and ethnic perspectives creates a more
welcoming environment for diverse students (Mayhew et al., 2006). Including diverse
perspectives in the content of the curriculum is associated with a variety of desirable
educational outcomes. Meta-analytic studies on courses with diversity content
demonstrate a consistent relationship between diversity coursework with students’
cognitive development (Bowman, 2010) and civic behaviors and dispositions (Bowman,
2011). Students who take courses with diversity content also show significant change in
the reduction of prejudice toward other racial/ethnic groups (Engberg, 2004; Denson,
2009) and LGBT peers (Engberg et al., 2007). While it is important to make the curriculum
more inclusive in both general education and the different departmental majors, it may be
more difficult to achieve these goals in particular disciplines.
 ACTIVITIES

Activity #1: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Direction: Think of a time in your life when you were discriminated against or treated unfairly
because of who you are. Write your answers in 2-3 sentences only.

Describe the situation:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
What did you feel?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
How did you cope?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
What did you learn?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

ASSESSMENT

A. Answer the following questions below. Write your answers in 3-5 sentences only.
1. What is diversity in learning? (5points) _______________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. How does diversity affect learning? (5points) __________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3. Why is it important for teachers to understand diversity? (5points) __________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
4. How do you promote diversity? (5points) _____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
5. Is it important to learn about learners’ diversity? Elaborate your answer. How and Why?
(5points) ______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
 B. Explain the picture on how issues of diversity and equity are addressed in schools and
society? Write your answers in 3-5 sentences only. (15 points)

Rubric:
Ideas – 5 Clarity and organization – 5 Sentence structure – 5 = Total – 15points